What's in the Budget for you?

Irish Olympic swimmer Shane Ryan can now take all the performance-enhancing drugs he wants as part of his training plan.And if anabolic steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), or testosterone supplements show up in his system next May when he competes in Las Vegas, the organisers will congratulate him for playing by the rules.The Enhanced Games dubbed the Steroid Olympics – was dreamed up by Australian businessman Aron D’Souza as a sporting event that lets competitors maximise their performance by doping.Ryan, who was the first swimmer to compete in three Olympics for Ireland, says the decision to join the Enhanced Games is financial. He will, he says, be “making over six figures for nine months and then potentially making over $600,000 when it comes down the line”.But Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules exist not just to level the playing field for all athletes but also to protect them from the health impacts of doping. So isn’t the 31 year-old worried?Irish Times sports writer Malachy Clerkin talked to him from his new training base in Nevada.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The number of people falling victim to online fraud, and in some cases losing their life savings as a result of being scammed, is skyrocketing. Banks have warned of a sharp increase in phone calls and text messages from criminals purporting to be delivery companies or Government agencies. However, in some of the most disturbing cases, victims are targeted with the promise of love and romance.Romance scams are not new – lonely people have always been targeted by criminals. But with the omnipresence of social media in people’s daily lives, and the rapid development of AI, criminal gangs are using more sophisticated methods than ever before to exploit the human need for connection, trust and affection.The sheer extent and impact of these scams remains unknown because many people are too embarrassed to report the relationship, or their lost funds, to the authorities. They are often also left heartbroken after truly believing they had found their soul mate.One Irish woman in her 60s, who recently lost more than €291,000 through a sinister romance scam to a man who claimed to love and want to marry her, shared her experience with The Irish Times this week.On today’s In The News episode Conor Pope, Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent, shares the story of Mary* who has been left with huge debts, and potentially serious legal implications, after being financially exploited, and emotionally manipulated, by a man who called himself Donald.What are the red flags people should watch out for if they begin a relationship online?And can further steps be taken by authorities to track down the criminal gangs behind this financial fraud?Today, the story of one woman who lost everything through an elaborate romance scam.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair.*Pseudonym requested to protect woman’s identity  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, more than two years after the conflict in Gaza began – a war which has killed tens of thousands, including an estimated 20,000 children – the remaining living Israeli hostages returned home.Meanwhile, about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners – including 1,700 from Gaza who have been held by Israel without charge – were released and reunited with family.The return of hostages and release of prisoners is all part of the first phase of Donald’s Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.Trump, who spoke before the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on Monday, told cheering lawmakers that the “long and painful nightmare is finally over” and that the agreement marked a “historic dawn of a new Middle East”.But is the US president correct? Will both sides honour the agreement and what will the next stage of this peace plan look like?And when so many lives have been lost, where do Palestinians begin when it comes to rebuilding the Gaza Strip?Irish Times contributors Mark Weiss and Michael Jansen discuss how Trump’s peace plan will work and what the future holds for Palestinians.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael D Higgins will shortly finish his two terms as President of Ireland, having served 14 years as head of State.In 2011 he said his tenure would be “a presidency of ideas”. But what are they and where in his background and in his impressive and varied pre-Áras career did they come from?And how has his outspokenness on a wide range of subjects, from foreign affairs to army pay, been received by successive governments? To what extent did his personal popularity insulate him from criticism and even censure when he was perceived to have overstepped the boundaries of the role?The 84 year-old’s appeal, notably among young people, has secured a prominent place for him in Irish popular culture inspiring a range of “miggledy” memorabilia from T-shirts to tea cosies.But while his public image is that of a warm, affable elder statesman in a tweed suit with a ready smile and an ability to connect with everyone who comes in contact with, his private persona is somewhat different according to Irish Times journalist Naomi O’Leary who has written a long profile of this very popular, effective President.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was Micheál Martin’s worst week in the job as leader of Fianna Fáil and it began on late on Sunday evening when the party’s campaign for the presidency imploded. Its candidate Jim Gavin resigned following media reports that, 16 years ago, a tenant had accidentally overpaid him by €3,300 and despite repeated requests, the former military man and presidential hopeful had refused to return it.The failure to repay a debt – and a landlord’s debt at that – had caused a sensation when news of it was reported on Friday.Gavin was Martin’s man – his “celebrity” non-party pick announced after a summer of speculation.But from his first outing it was clear that he lacked the charisma and communication skills that are baseline requirements in any political campaign. And for a celebrity candidate he was remarkably unknown.Many in Martin’s party were simply puzzled by his choice while also being angry at a process in which they felt sidelined.Wednesday provided a new twist when the tenant outed himself on his popular crime podcast as Niall Donald, deputy editor of the Sunday World.Then on Wednesday evening before a five-hour parliamentary party meeting, a shaken Martin apologised for the disaster which has left party members furious and embarrassed.So how did Micheál Martin get here; how did he make this massive misstep in choosing Gavin and has he set the clock ticking on the end of his career leading Fianna Fáil.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So now we know what’s in Budget 2026 but for most people, what’s not so clear is what’s in it for them.As he has done every year on the day after the budget Irish Times personal finance expert and assistant business editor Dominic Coyle put a call-out to readers for their own queries and then he answered them.For In the News he picks out the ones that exercised people the most and explains how he answered.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is in Budget 2026 for you? Not a lot, probably - as expected, Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers have delivered a much tighter package than recent years. Out are universal payments to help with steep energy bills and most bonus social welfare payments. But the budget did deliver some help for some groups. Conor Pope runs through the main points. Plus: Cliff Taylor on why, eleven months after a general election campaign that featured many spending promises, the Government has instead decided to tighten its belt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s budget day and one thing we can almost certainly expect in Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe’s spending announcements is an increase in the price of cigarettes. This year, the cost of a pack of cigarettes is set to increase by 50 cents, bringing it to almost €19 for a pack of twenty.And while this price hike may help reduce smoking levels in Irish society, and improve the overall health of the population, it is also driving Ireland’s rapidly growing black market tobacco business.More than one in four cigarettes smoked in Ireland are now sold through the black market, costing the exchequer around €600 million in lost revenue annually.And it’s not just the Irish authorities who are keen to end this booming underground activity – Big Tobacco companies are now hiring investigators in Ireland to collect data on how and where this business takes place.On today’s In The News episode, consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope discusses the day he recently spent shadowing an investigative team hired by Japan Tobacco International, one of the biggest tobacco companies in the world, to scour Dublin for sellers of illegal tobacco.Who is selling this tobacco, where is it produced and what do we know about the criminals behind this illegal cigarette chain?And what is the point of tobacco companies tracking down small-time street dealers who are purely cogs in a much larger, multimillion euro, illicit tobacco-producing machine?Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fianna Fail’s presidential candidate Jim Gavin's sensational withdrawal from the presidential race has plunged Fianna Fáil into crisis. There’s dismay among party backbenchers, anger at Taoiseach Micheal Martin, and uncertainty over what kind of presidential election race we now have. Earlier today, Jack Horgan Jones and Ellen Coyne talked to Hugh Linehan on our sister podcast Inside Politics about the affair. In the News will be back with another regular episode tomorrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can it happen that a doctor who has been sanctioned or even struck-off in one country can simply move to another and continue working?Shouldn’t the various medical registration bodies have robust recording and information sharing systems that would make that impossible. Most patients will assume that to be the case but a new global investigation has found serious flaws in the system.And it is happening in Ireland: 11 doctors who have faced serious sanctions in the UK, including being struck off, remain registered in Ireland.In each case, the UK sanction was not recorded on the doctor’s publicly available record published by the Medical Council.The information comes from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which in the past has investigated transnational criminal gangs and drug cartels but in recent months has turned its attention to doctor registration.Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher joined international journalists from more than 50 other media outlets to uncover this very real threat to patient safety. He explains the findings of the report particularly as they relate to Ireland.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.